neuters - pom on or pom off?

Subject: neuters - pom on or pom off? Sun Jul 20, 2014 10:32 pm

Which do you prefer and why?

Subject: Re: neuters - pom on or pom off? Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:56 am

I have had both done. In the early day's of my owning gliders they were done pom off. The original vet I had just did them this way I was very new to glider ownership and went with it. My current vet does pom on. I feel that with pom on, if your glider does decide to chew the area, they have more skin to chew before getting to the meat of things. If you need to reclose the area you have something to work with.
Sometimes the glider will just chew/clean to get any ickies the vet has applied to the area to clean it, sometimes they become a bit aggressive while cleaning the area. If this happens, the extra skin, in my opinion, gives a little leeway between body and organs and hopefully the owner is aware of this and can stop them before damage is done.

Subject: Re: neuters - pom on or pom off? Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:12 pm

Those done in my home were pom off, but I have had males here with pom on. I think I'm leaning towards pom on for the reasons Brenda mentioned.

Subject: Re: neuters - pom on or pom off? Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:34 pm

I have always had pom on. Less stress on the glider in my opinion

Subject: Re: neuters - pom on or pom off? Tue Jul 22, 2014 11:30 am

Pom on in my house as well. The main reason was because that's how my vet did it and all 3 boys were done around 2008, when I was fairly inexperienced with even having males. None of the procedures had any issues at all.

Subject: Re: neuters - pom on or pom off? Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:51 pm

I have had both pom on and pom off neuters done. One thing we have found, if the glider has a shorter than normal stalk (spermatic cord) you should do a pom on neuter. Those pom off neuters with the males that have a shorter spermatic cord tend to have a hole at the site, which they can and usually do mess with.

My vet likes to use their CO2 laser and just zip it off, but the ones with the shorter cord need to be done pom on, JMO

Subject: Re: neuters - pom on or pom off? Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:22 am

I, too, have had both types. I prefer Pom ON for several reasons:

1) The aforementioned issue of them having something to chew on if they do decide to chew. I can catch them before any life-threatening damage is done to the abdomen.

2) It looks more natural. They still look like boys/men

3) It makes it easier to tell boys from girls from across the room. This is much more handy than it may sound when you have as many cages/gliders as I do here.

I find the SUGAR Group's research interesting that states that there is no statistical difference in terms of complications after the surgery with pom on vs. pom off. My own personal experience follows this research. So, since there is no health reason to do one or the other, I prefer to do the one that leaves them looking the most natural and that provides that buffer after in case of chewing. :)

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